#1: Prescription and recreational drugs

Statins used to reduce cholesterol also lower other sex hormones such as testosterone.

Beta-blockers and hypertension medications containing diuretics can also cause a drop in T.

Opioids taken every 8-12 hours come with an added risk of lowered testosterone levels. They decrease testosterone 5x more than doses taken every four hours.

Antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds can also lower T levels.

Glucocorticosteroids that reduce inflammation, such as prednisone, also cause your testosterone levels to fall.

If you’re taking any of those medications and are experiencing the signs of low T (more on this in the next section), you may want to speak with your doctor about other alternatives that won’t affect your hormones levels.

In a small study done on 30 men, a diet consisting of only 25% dietary fat led to reduced levels of testosterone. But the condition was reversible once the participants switched back to eating at least 40% of their calories from fat[*].

Another study found a higher fat intake among a group of men resulted in 13% more testosterone than their low-fat peers[*].

Essentially, fats boost testosterone levels because they provide the building blocks for hormones.

But before you run off to eat non-keto friendly, high-fat foods, there’s one caveat:

The dietary fat studied came from saturated fatty acids — like the healthy ones found in coconuts, not Big Macs — and polyunsaturated fats such as walnuts and sunflower seeds.

By increasing your intake of healthy fats or, even better, following a keto diet, you’ll be on your way to upping your testosterone levels naturally.

But since that’s just one piece of the puzzle, you’ll want to pair that with the rest of these tips to double your impact.

How to Increase Testosterone Levels Naturally

On top of adding more (healthy) dietary fat to your meals and snacks, tackle these 9 testosterone-boosting habits to improve your T levels:

#1: Give Intermittent Fasting a Try (Or a Second or Third Chance)

Intermittent fasting, as the name suggests, is a way of eating where you go through extended periods of fasting (not eating) mixed with periods of non-fasting (eating).

As you can see in this guide, there are several fasting styles you can choose from depending on the window of eating/fasting that works for your lifestyle.

Some people prefer to eat between 11 am and 7 pm each day while others choose to skip breakfast and start their feeding window in the afternoon.

Intermittent fasting can increase testosterone levels because this fasting and eating cycle pushes your body to make more satiety hormones, such as leptin, adiponectin, glucagon-like-peptide-1 (GLP-1), insulin, melanocortins and cholecystokinin[*].

When this happens, your body is more capable of regulating testosterone properly, which can boost your sex drive and potentially eliminate the testosterone declines that come with age[*].

If you’d like to learn more about this cyclical way of eating, be sure to check out this guide when you’re done here.

The next item on the list is pretty simple and straightforward, especially if you’re already following a keto diet.

#2: Eliminate Sugars & Fructose from Your Diet

In one study conducted on mice and human cell cultures, researchers discovered that consuming too much fructose and glucose (aka sugars) can turn off important genes controlling testosterone[*].

Another study done on men between the ages of 18 and 74 found that when participants ate 75 grams of sugar per day, testosterone levels dropped by 25% for up to two hours after eating it[*].

To a ketoer, 75 grams of sugar is a lot, but the average American already consumes 82 grams every day[*] — that’s over 19 teaspoons of sugar (yikes!).

Imagine what that is going to do to your already declining testosterone levels and overall health.

It’s time to ditch the sweet stuff once and for all.

While you’re at it, cut down on this next food group too.

#3: Cut Back On Grains & Carbs

Don’t be fooled into thinking that just because you don’t binge on ice cream and other sweet treats your sugar intake is any better.

Even the sugar found in milk (lactose) is enough to deliver a whopping 12.8 grams of carbs per glass.

The problem with carbs — even supposedly healthy, complex ones — is they can spike your blood sugar, increase insulin production, and lead to insulin resistance over time.

When you have high levels of blood sugar and insulin over extended periods of time, testosterone levels can drop.[*].

In one small study, researchers had participants train for four weeks using a strength-focused program. At the end of the trial, they found a 40% increase in testosterone and a 24% drop in cortisol levels[*][*].

This means you should swap your hour-long cardio with shorter ones that involve weights and compound movements, such as[*]:

Squats

Deadlifts

Bench presses

Pull-ups

Leg presses

Step ups

Bent over rows

Military presses

Those moves work different muscles and increase your fat and calorie burn, while also boosting testosterone naturally.

Another important thing is to increase the weights you use and decrease your reps to maximize your fat-burning, strength-building potential.

This next tip is also paramount for better health and higher T levels.

#6: Cut Out Stress

Cortisol, just like testosterone, is a hormone that sends signals to initiate and regulate certain processes within your body.

But when there’s too much cortisol floating around, your body prevents testosterone from being used.

And if this happens every day because you’re beyond stressed, you’ll shut down your testosterone production altogether and will be more likely to experience low sex drive and impotence as a result[*].

A few natural ways to lower your stress include:

Taking a walk

Practicing yoga, meditation and journaling

Working out

Spending time in nature (hiking, biking, etc.)

Talking to a trained therapist

Another reason why you should get your stress under control is that it directly affects your sleep quality.

#7: Get Enough Sleep Already

If I tell you to get enough sleep each night, you might be tempted to roll your eyes and send over a yeah, yeah response.

But it’s still worth repeating, especially if low testosterone is your issue.

Researchers found lifestyle modifications such as upgrading your diet and exercising more improved testosterone levels even in prediabetic men[*].

Your Next Steps

After reading this guide, you may be convinced your testosterone levels are low and need fixing.

While that may be true, you should still pay a visit to your doctor to run blood work to confirm your suspicion. After all, you don’t want to keep adding more testosterone if your body is already producing enough of it.

On the other hand, if you’re overweight, use any of the medications I talked about earlier, and are above the age of 30, your chances of having low T go up significantly.

So if you’ve already received a low T diagnosis, discuss these tips with your doctor to see if they may be an ideal supplement to your existing plan.

With these strategies in tow, you can achieve higher testosterone levels all on your own.

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Responses (1)

Heathsays:

Wow this is excellent and what I been looking for. I been reading contradicting articles based on increasing T. For an example one article says cut out sugar but eat a certain amount of complex carbs, well that comes from grains and grains are usually containing gluten, and gluten effects T. So it really frustrated me but finally this article finally hits the nail in the head, on T levels.